Study Finds Heart Stents Offer No Extra Benefit To Patients Than Drugs, New England Journal of Medicine

Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Using heart stents to prop open diseased arteries has little advantage over medicines, exercise and a better diet, according to researchers who said the devices should be a last resort for most patients. Stents provided patients an ``incremental'' benefit in reduced pain and fatigue after surgery, which by three years was equaled using anti-cholesterol drugs with an exercise and diet plan, the study in yesterday's New England Journal of Medicine said. An accompanying editorial said one-third of the 1 million stents implanted in the U.S. each year may be unnecessary.